How To View Dictionary In Python

In this tutorial, we will learn how to view a dictionary in Python. A dictionary is a collection of key-value pairs, where each key is unique and can be used to access the corresponding value.

Dictionaries are mutable, and unordered, and can store data in a flexible and efficient way. In this tutorial, we will cover different methods to view and access the elements of a dictionary.

1. Accessing an Element in a Dictionary

To access a specific value in a dictionary, you can use the key as an index, like this:

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dict_name[key]

Here’s an example to access the value using a key:

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my_dictionary = {"name": "John", "age": 30, "city": "New York"}
print(my_dictionary["name"])
print(my_dictionary["city"])

This will output:

John
New York

2. Using the get() Method

You can also use the **get()** method to access the value associated with a specific key. If the key is not found, it returns the default value specified as the second argument to the function (None, if not specified explicitly).

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my_dictionary = {"age": 30, "city": "New York", "name": "John"}
print(my_dictionary.get("name"))
print(my_dictionary.get("country"))
print(my_dictionary.get("country", "USA"))

This will output:

John
None
USA

3. Looping Over a Dictionary

You can loop over the keys, values, or key-value pairs of a dictionary using a for loop. Here are the different methods for looping:

– Using dict.keys(): This method returns a view object that displays a list of all the keys in the dictionary.

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for key in dict_name.keys():
    print(key)

– Using dict.values(): This returns a view object that displays a list of all the values in the dictionary.

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for value in dict_name.values():
    print(value)

– Using dict.items(): This returns a view object that displays a list of the dictionary’s (key, value) tuple pairs.

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for key, value in dict_name.items():
    print(key, value)

Here’s an example to demonstrate the above methods:

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my_dictionary = {"name": "John", "age": 30, "city": "New York"}
 
print("Keys:")
for key in my_dictionary.keys():
    print(key)
 
print("\nValues:")
for value in my_dictionary.values():
    print(value)
 
print("\nKey-Value Pairs:")
for key, value in my_dictionary.items():
    print(key, ":", value)

This will output:

Keys:
name
age
city

Values:
John
30
New York

Key-Value Pairs:
name : John
age : 30
city : New York

Full Code

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my_dictionary = {"name": "John", "age": 30, "city": "New York"}
 
# Accessing elements using key
print(my_dictionary["name"])
print(my_dictionary["city"])
 
# Accessing elements using get() method
print(my_dictionary.get("name"))
print(my_dictionary.get("country"))
print(my_dictionary.get("country", "USA"))
 
# Looping over a dictionary
print("\nKeys:")
for key in my_dictionary.keys():
    print(key)
 
print("\nValues:")
for value in my_dictionary.values():
    print(value)
 
print("\nKey-Value Pairs:")
for key, value in my_dictionary.items():
    print(key, ":", value)

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we learned about different ways to view a dictionary in Python: accessing elements using a key, the get() method, and looping over keys, values, or key-value pairs. Using these methods, you can easily view and access the data stored in your dictionaries.